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The Valley Nerd Watch!

Folks! FOLKS!

Black Panther was a hell of a film. Fun, with a half-dozen excellent supporting characters, some very well-constructed jokes that fit with the folks telling them, an extremely bright and interesting visual palette and some just frigging neat ideas. And a great villain! Charismatic and interesting with motivations that follow from his experiences, pretty much the tops for any Marvel film.

Black Panther has pretty solidly vaulted to the top of the heap of anything made by Marvel we can recall. Thor: Ragnarok was one of our recent faves because it was willing to go farther afield from the tone of the other films, into explicit comedy. We were impressed with how much Black Panther managed to do with a more standard dramatic action film.

Also, though we agree with some of the action complaints, we definitely appreciated that this had a final CGI-filled fight sequence that we could follow and appreciate because we had been introduced to characters and their motivations before things kicked off.

Bottom line is that it was really neat, worthwhile filmmaking. Highly recommended for anyone and everyone!

THIS WEEK

Art:

Pretty much what it says on the tin! This one will be about HOUSE: Selections from the Collection of John and Sue Wieland. It features 58 artworks that present interpretations of the house. Which house? YOUR house. Free and open to all!

A Conversation with Sonya Clark, Followed by Her Performance of “Unraveling”

A conversation with two renowned artists, class of ’89 and ’90, for an evening of performance and protest. Following a discussion, Clark will perform “Unraveling”. All are invited to participate by unraveling threads of the Confederate battle flag. Really not a bad idea to do just whenever and wherever you see a Confederate battle flag.

Books:

Adults who write for children are invited to a critique group! Speak to other people about your work, and trade opportunities for development as well as writing and publishing tips. You can also read and discuss stories with other members! For more info call the library at 413-772-1544!

This is a book chronicling what happened when a LaSalle Street Church gave every congregant $500 to go “do God’s work in the world”. It sounds both like it’s an uplifting story of generous people and a really solid argument for socialism.

“Mount Holyoke College celebrates Black History Month with social media expert, New York Times best-selling author, and pop-critic, Luvvie Ajayi. Sponsored by the Association of Pan-African Unity, Mount Holyoke African and Caribbean Students Association, and the Division of Student Life. ” You can grab a copy of ‘I’M JUDGING YOU: The Do-Better Manual’ to read before the talk at Odyssey Books!

Read the book and then talk about it! Also, get some nice food at the same time. Sounds like a fun time: “In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.”

Card Games:

Draft cards, play magic, win prizes! A $16 entry fee includes tax, and gets you 3 booster packs to draft with, and adds a pack to the prize pool! Everyone gets at least 1 prize pack, and extra packs and foil cards will be awarded for exceptional play!

Teens and young adults ages 14-22, get some tips on budget-making! What does it mean to make and stick to a budget? We personally recommend you keep a budgie. Those little birds are cute, and they know their stuff when it comes to responsible spending!

Entertainment:

Master Jazz Violinist, MacArthur Fellow, and just we assume a very good musician in general Regina Carter will perform “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” using violin bows that have been restrung with human hair by contemporary artist Sonya Clark! Followed by an artist talk.

It’s slightly late for V-day, but whatever! Not like there’s a time limit on soirees! The party is open to kids of all ages and their caregivers! There are crafts, games, music, party favors, all the necessary soiree ingredients! Contact asanches@palmer.lib.ma.us for info!

“The Ukulele Scramble are Richard Perlmutter and Robin Hoffman. They sing and play rare, obscure and under-performed songs from the past 500 years; especially works from the Renaissance, and Parlor and Art Songs from the 19th Century. They update, revise and rewrite lyrics for many of these songs, often humorously, and perform them on ukuleles and other small stringed instruments. The group is based in Western Massachusetts.”

Villains, mischief-makers, and ne’er-do-wells! Join your fellow foul foes for a night of dinner, dancing, drinks, games, and more! Dress up like your favorite villain and have a classy, slightly evil time! General admission is $70! “Dress code: Dress up as your favorite villain (keeping in mind that in order to be a safe and fun event for all, real-world hate groups and villains that promote them will not be allowed), or come in your best formal wear. Don’t forget to wear a mask!” Get to know more at: http://massrenfaire.com/villaintines-masquerade-ball/!

“Soldier, Engraver, Counterfeiter: Richard Brunton’s Life on the Fringe in America’s New Republic,” Presented by Deborah Child, Independent Scholar. Find out more about an interesting person from early America!

Kids:

Moth and Wasp, Soil and Ocean is a story about the memories of a farm boy who’s inspired by Chinese scientist Pu Zhelong to become a scientist himself. It’s written by Sigrid Schmalzer, professor of history at UMass Amherst and illustrated by Melanie Chan. Learn about Chinese culture, the history of insects, and more! Then there’s a paper-cutting art project and a book signing!

Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 2:00 PM to 2:30 PM

Ninjago: Build Before You Watch (Ages 5+)

Build some Ninjago LEGO before you watch the film!

Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Family Movie Matinee: The Lego Ninjago Movie (PG)

Can the six Ninja warriors defend their island home, Ninjago? Can they also survive their greatest challenge– high school?

“Sit back, put your feet up and join Storyteller Rona Leventhal for a journey around the world and back! Rona is one person, but many voices. Through her, skies talk, turtles sing, and magic happens! Rona will have you dancing, swaying in your seats, making funny noises, singing, and laughing, as she shares stories from the silly to the serious, from the mysterious to the monstrous!”

Movies:

LEGO movies have generally been surprisingly good, being that they’re movies about a toy line. We haven’t heard amazing things about this one, but probably if you hear “LEGO” and “Ninja”, you’d be into it!

“Get ready to yodel in Western Mass! Sing along to all the great songs from the Sound of Music. A fun, liberating night out the whole family will enjoy. Come in costume or bring a movie themed prop and get ready to sing your heart out. Intermission refreshments.”

Wonder is a movie about a kid with Treacher-Collins syndrome going to school and trying to fit in. It generally got some good reviews, seems like it might be interesting! There’s also a dog on the poster, which is good.

“The Forbes Film Club presents a free screening of Spike Lee’s classic 1989 film Do the Right Thing. Synopsis from IMDB.com: On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone’s hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.”

Watch the incredible true story of the people who got mankind to the moon! Three black female mathematicians pretty who played a vital role in early work in spaceflight are profiled across a tumultuous time in the US space program. Snacks provided!

RPGs:

A monthly D&D club for players 8-12! You can become a member of this club by prepaying $50. That gets you help with creating a character, a mini, a custom D&D session, and a set of dice! It’s the perfect way to play a fun game with friends! We recommend you play a bard. Actually everyone should play as a bard and you should be adventurers by day and a traveling band by night!

Play one of the classic RPGs at Modern Myths! New players are always welcome, and there’s a friendly crowd there every week! We recommend playing fast and loose, since it’s a drop-in drop-out game, so worst case you can come back in a few months with your bard’s ‘long-lost uncle who’s also secretly a god’.

Amateur Astronomer and Deerfield Academy student Abigail Lupi is bringing her telescopes to the library! After an informative talk, families will be invited to use the telescopes to do some stargazing! Spot Betelgeuse, but don’t do it more than two times! Hot chocolate will be served! Recommended for kids aged 8+.

It’s basically like Lumpley Games is the reason that people listen to the McElroy family podcasts! Or it might be the like decade of comedy that they’ve produced across three dozen podcasts. But we think it’s the influence of our wonderful local tabletop game designers!

THIS WEEK

Art:

A gallery talk with the Curator of Russian and European Art, Alla Rosenfeld! This is offered in conjunction with the Varieties of Nonconformism exhibition on view at the Russian Center Art Gallery through the 11th. Free and open to all! Learn about some nonconformist artwork on your lunch break!

A conversation with an alumnus and the Chief Curator of the Museum, David E. Little. Afterward, attend the reception opening “HOUSE: Selections from the Collection of John and Sue Wieland”. Free and open to all! Dang, we wish we had enough cash that our collections were worth hosting an opening to view. Anyone interested in displaying a ton of comics?

Celebrate the opening of some new artwork! Including HOUSE: Selections from the Collection of John and Sue Wieland, Fragmented Identities: The Gendered Roles of Women in Art through the Ages as well as New Publics: Art for a Modern India, 1960s–90s! Get some refreshments and dance to a live DJ!

Get cozy and talk poetry! Facilitated by Diana Gordon, you’ll discuss eight poems by Massachusetts poets featured in Common Threads 2018, an annual publication by MassPoetry. Please reserve a space by calling 413-542-2034!

Hands on art making from 4pm-7pm! You can construct a robot sculpture inspired by Tahano Miho’s Robot Girl in the exhibition “Modern Images of the Body from East Asia”! You can also get a guided tour starting at 6pm and some free refreshments! Go hang out in your great local museum!

Love! Ah, love. It’s a many-splendored thing, isn’t it? Yeah we just came up with that description because we’re very good at words. Join folks at the Odyssey to make Valentine’s cards using characters from picture books and featuring a reading of Love by Matt De La Pena and Loren Long. Open to all ages!

Board Games:

Play boardgames with friends and soon-to-be-friends as well as some of the friendly staff at Modern Myths! It’s a great night to try out something you may have been meaning to check out! We really recommend Clank! or Not Alone if they’ve got those!

Burger King Community Room [344 King St., Northampton, MA 01060] at 12:30 PM to 4:30 PM

Tabletop Game Day

Board games! Join up with other friendly locals to play board games and card games and generally hang out in a nice reserved space in the back of the Burger King! They mostly play your standard suite of nice Euro games, but they’re open to whatever you’re interested in bringing as well! Sign up here: https://www.meetup.com/thepvg/events/246455490/

Books:

Christopher Tinson, Ph.D is an associate professor of Africana Studies and History at Hampshire College. He’ll read from and speak about his book, which covers the 60’s era rise of black radicalism. Specifically, taking a look at the magizine Liberator, who were a touchstone of thought and organizing in during that period.

Two talented YA authors come to speak about their newest books! The Grave Keepers is a unique coming-of-age story set in a society obsessed with grave keeping and Gunslinger Girl is a coming of age story about Serendipity Jones, armed with six-shooters and perfect aim in a lawless city!

Card Games:

Draft cards, play magic, win prizes! A $16 entry fee includes tax, and gets you 3 booster packs to draft with, and adds a pack to the prize pool! Everyone gets at least 1 prize pack, and extra packs and foil cards will be awarded for exceptional play!

Community:

Children! Teens! Read to a frigging dog! Rooster is such a cute doggy and you can read Rooster a book and that’s an opportunity no one should pass up!

Computers:

Tuesday, February 6th

Common Media [84 Russell Street, Hadley, MA] at 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Hack for Western Mass

A quick update on ongoing projects to start up the discussion, followed by some time to get hacking! Bring your laptop so that you can contribute! It helps to know your way around GitHub, because most of the coordination relies on that! Dinner and drinks are on them!

The Foundry [24 Main St., Northampton, MA] at 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Northampton Webdive – After Work

A rendezvous of the most fantastic sort! It’s a chance to hang out with web developers and coders and just folks in general, talk about web dev stuff and just hang at a nice local bar!

Entertainment:

The Carle teams up with the folks at First Book to observe Friendiversary! It’s an annual celebration of friendship and reading! Bring a friend and join this celebration of books with Elephant, Piggie, and a host of ther friends from the museum! A FREE Mo Willems book to every child who attends while supplies last! More info here: https://www.carlemuseum.org/content/first-book-friendiversary-4

Sunday, February 11th

MYSTERY LOCATION at 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Star Trek Discovery Finale Potluck

First, a potluck! Then Discovery episodes 14 and 15! Bring something delicious to eat or drink, or both, and pitch in a couple bucks to cover the subscription cost! It’s the best way to see the thrilling finale of this series! https://www.meetup.com/4scifi/events/246917792/

Kids:

Kids aged 6-10 are welcome to come hang out and build things out of LEGO! The original, the acronymical, the spectacular fun building block set! Build a bracelet, a model, a toy, even a person! That’s right you heard it here first you can build a fully functional human being out of LEGO.

Wednesday, February 7th

Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM

Learn Ukulele With Julie (Ages 8-12)

Learn the basics, play some songs, have some fun! Beginners can come early to learn the basics 3:30 – 4:00, and then there’s lessons for everyone at 4:00pm – 5:00pm! Ukuleles will be provided! Pre-register in the Kids Room or call 413-259-3091!

Callie at the Childrens/YA Department will hang out and discuss comics with you! And help create and share new ones! Artists supplies will be on hand if you want to make your own comics. Intended for elementary, tween, and teen readers and artists!

Movies:

Teens! And specifically only teens! Come watch a movie about teens that is considered a classic by Old Teens! You can see why it’s a thing that people have remembered but also there’s a lot to talk about with regards to what it portrays as relatable teen probs, which is common when revisiting teen films!

RPGs:

A monthly D&D club for players 8-12! You can become a member of this club by prepaying $50. That gets you help with creating a character, a mini, a custom D&D session, and a set of dice! It’s the perfect way to play a fun game with friends! We recommend you play a bard. Actually everyone should play as a bard and you should be adventurers by day and a traveling band by night!

Play one of the classic RPGs at Modern Myths! New players are always welcome, and there’s a friendly crowd there every week! We recommend playing fast and loose, since it’s a drop-in drop-out game, so worst case you can come back in a few months with your bard’s ‘long-lost uncle who’s also secretly a god’.

Science:

Thursday, February 8th

Nacul Center [592 Main St., Amherst] at 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM

OEB Science Cafe: Battle of the Sexes

Hear all the dirty details about ocean sex that you’ve been afraid to ask! Does sex happen in the ocean? Oh you’d better believe it does! It’s wild down there. Dr. Dara Orbach will discuss the anatomy, mechanics, and behavior involved in marine mammal reproduction!

The Valley Nerd Watch!

Hello out there in Nerd Watch Land! We are excited to let you know that there’s a bunch of stuff to do this week!

We recommend you check out Comic Craft & Craft Beer night at our friendly local comic shop, Comics N’ More! It seems like a fun time and it’s nice to make old comics into new fun crafts! Also snacks are fun.

In non-local news, we got Monster Hunter World and it’s quite fun! It is about making good friends with large iguanas and then wearing their skin. But also you can make friends with good cats and also with a small pig that you can dress up in good clothing!

THIS WEEK

Art:

Teens! Come hang out in the Teen Room, your designated room, to create! Write, draw, make jewelry, design things in 3D, play with their technology! Use the library’s resources to make your dreams… reality.

Craft a teen, teens! Make your new best friend out of either LEGO or 3D Printing!

Tuesday, January 30th

Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Teen Craft: Harry Potter Wand Making

Teens aged 11-17 are welcome to register for this event that will introduce you to the raw unbridled power that comes with having access to the forces of magic! Perhaps it will be you who defeats the next upstart dark lord?

Learn how to use a 3D printer to make models, toys, bracelets, even whole people! That’s right it’s now possible to 3D print whole living humans and you’re hearing it here first! Ages 7-16 welcome, advanced registration is required at 413-665-2642!

Craft a comic craft! Beer a craft beer! For a low fee of $20 a person, you get all the materials to make a delightful craft item and get wine and snacks and beer! Sign up at the store or prepay via paypal using comicsnmoreeast@gmail.com!

Play boardgames with friends and soon-to-be-friends as well as some of the friendly staff at Modern Myths! It’s a great night to try out something you may have been meaning to check out! This Saturday it’s going to feature some tree-related games! Photosynthesis is really fun!

Card Games:

Learn to play Magic in a casual setting with the friendly staff of Modern Myths! Test out a cool new deck, play with constructed decks if other folks are into it, get special door prizes! It’s the perfect night for new Magic players or people who just want to take it easy! It’s $5 to attend, which is immediately converted to store credit.

Greenfield folks, do you want to make a new library? Then talk about how you can make it happen! Libraries are important community centers and they are nice, so making a better library seems like a good plan for taxpayers!

A public workshop where the League will provide guidance and resources for communicating with state and federal legislators! Make your voice heard with the help of a wonderful local group of concerned citizens!

Free and open to the public, this is a great opportunity to advocate for proper library funding! Funding libraries is helpful to a whole host of people in your community and you should attend to say so!

A cabaret! A great big gathering of song and dance and drama and comedy and recitation and juggling and basically everything you could ever want in a night. Sign up at 6pm to do your own thing! Free and open to all!

Come hang out and watch Doctor Who with people! Laugh through the funny ones, thrill through the exciting ones, come together as a group to explain why it’s probably still worth watching the really embarrassingly silly ones!

Kids aged 6-10 are welcome to come hang out and build things out of LEGO! The original, the acronymical, the spectacular fun building block set! Build a bracelet, a model, a toy, even a person! That’s right you heard it here first you can build a fully functional human being out of LEGO.

Movies:

Watch the movie first! Then come here and talk about this movie inspired by the book Roadside Picnic! It’s notable as a filmic work and weirdly is notable f or some of the same reasons that the game based on the book – STALKER – is notable! It seems like people inspired by that book make neat things!

This month Grown in Westhampton will be viewing “Call of the Forest – The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees with Diana Beresford-Kroger”, which is a film in which our host takes us through the history and legacy of old growth forests while explaining the science behind how they play an irreplaceable role in making our planet livable!

RPGs:

A monthly D&D club for players 8-12! You can become a member of this club by prepaying $50. That gets you help with creating a character, a mini, a custom D&D session, and a set of dice! It’s the perfect way to play a fun game with friends! We recommend you play a bard. Actually everyone should play as a bard and you should be adventurers by day and a traveling band by night!

Play one of the classic RPGs at Modern Myths! New players are always welcome, and there’s a friendly crowd there every week! We recommend playing fast and loose, since it’s a drop-in drop-out game, so worst case you can come back in a few months with your bard’s ‘long-lost uncle who’s also secretly a god’.

RPGs are great! Play Noirlandia, or Questlandia, or Dread, or Monsterhearts, or Apocalypse World, or Dogs in the Vineyard, or One Thousand and One Nights, or any of a lot of amazing games created right here in this Valley! They’re all very good!

We’ve got Dread, “The One With Jenga A Tumbling Block Puzzle”, designed by local notable Epidiah Ravochol who has also designed a ton of other excellent RPGs and also if you’re going to play Dread make sure it’s the Dread Geas of Duke Vulku, that’s the updated version that takes use some Apocalypse World systems to enhance the game!

Then there’s Bubblegumshoe! It’s a teen detective RPG, with design work by Emily Care Boss of local game design studio Black and Green Games and also of the Romance Trilogy RPGs! She specializes in creating exciting RPGs for people who are interested in exploring a space beyond stabbing an orc. Like, you can be a teen orc detective or compete with a friend for the affections of a fun orc.

And even if you’d like to go for the Big Old Standard But Still Quite Fun Thing you can go for Dungeons and Dragons as the article mentions! What’s that got to do with the lovely Pioneer Valley, you ask? Isn’t it a massively successful game that was made by people not associated with the Valley in any manner? Tsk. You never learn… D&D has for decades featured extremely wonderful art by incredible local artist Tony DiTerlizzi!

If any of these wonderful roleplaying games are on YOUR resolution list, why not head over to one of our excellent local shops and pick up a copy? Greenfield Games and Modern Myths have a huge selection!

THIS WEEK

Art:

Teens! Come hang out in the Teen Room, your designated room, to create! Write, draw, make jewelry, design things in 3D, play with their technology! Use the library’s resources to make your dreams… reality.

Create a wire form and then cover it with colorful papier mache to make a sculpture! You can sculpt anything you can imagine! Well. You can sculpt a representation of what you imagined that’s likely going to bear a resemblance to your imagining that is commensurate to your skill at wire-sculpting and papier mache. Should be a bit better at it by Part 2! Grades 5-12 welcome! Taught by Whitney Robbins! Pre-Registration required! Call 413-665-2642!

Have fun making soap in this class that does not resemble the soap-making scene from Fight Club! It’s got a better script, for one thing. But no mostly it’s that it’s just glitter, glycerin, and essential oils instead of lye. Oh! Though essential oils can be a bit dangerous if they’re particularly concentrated so don’t go covering your hands with them. You’ll get to take home your 4oz handmade soap at the end! Registration required! Best for adults! Call 413-665-2642!

Play boardgames with friends and soon-to-be-friends as well as some of the friendly staff at Modern Myths! It’s a great night to try out something you may have been meaning to check out! This Saturday it’s going to feature some tree-related games! Photosynthesis is really fun!

From the site: “In this ferociously imaginative novel, abortion is once again illegal in America, in-vitro fertilization is banned, and the Personhood Amendment grants rights of life, liberty, and property to every embryo. In a small Oregon fishing town, five very different women navigate these new barriers alongside age-old questions surrounding motherhood, identity, and freedom.” This sounds like a book worth reading!

Card Games:

Draft cards, play magic, win prizes! A $16 entry fee includes tax, and gets you 3 booster packs to draft with, and adds a pack to the prize pool! Everyone gets at least 1 prize pack, and extra packs and foil cards will be awarded for exceptional play!

Community:

Teens and young adults ages 14-22, get some tips on managing your finances! Credit cards, loans, interest rates, the People’s United Bank of South Deerfield will teach you everything you need to know! Our hot finance tip: try your darndest to inherit a ton of money from a rich, heretofore unknown relative.

Computers:

This month the speaker is Trevor Morris, a Software Developer at MachineMetrics, where he works at data warehousing and analytics! MachineMetrics gets a lot of real-time metrics from industrial machines and uses AWS Kinesis and AWS Lambda to stream data to real-time dashboards! Trevor will give a brief overview of how to set up a Kinesis stream, hook it into lambda, and store it in DynamoDB! Get stuff done with AWS!

Entertainment:

Saturday, January 27th

MYSTERY LOCATION at 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Nintendo Night

Join the friendly folks of the Pioneer Valley Geeks and Gamers for a night of excellent multiplayer games on the brand-new Nintendo Switch! They’ve got four controllers to pass around, and a bunch of fun games such as the fantastic Overcooked!

Sunday, January 28th

MYSTERY LOCATION at 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM

Star Trek Discovery Episodes 12 – 13 & Potluck

Have a great potluck dinner and then watch Star Trek! Bring some food and drink, then pitch in a buck or two to cover the CBS Streaming costs! Watch a great new Star Trek show with some great people and food!

History:

For the first time in a century, a team of oxen will be hauling logs through Northampton! Tom Jenkins of Blue Dog Forestry will be bringing his oxen Rock and Star with him for an outdoor demonstration of oxen logging! They’re very cute oxen!

Movies:

The SECOND film about acapella groups that’s widely regarded as a pretty solid comedy. Like Bring it On we think? We’re dating ourselves but we think it’s pretty much acapella Bring it On. There are snacks!

This recently released documentary features three women fighting to break the cycle of opioid addiction in the overdose capital of the country, Huntington West Virginia. A collaboration with the Center for Investigative Reporting, the film features several women who refuse to allow a town to succumb to the opioid scourge.

RPGs:

A monthly D&D club for players 8-12! You can become a member of this club by prepaying $50. That gets you help with creating a character, a mini, a custom D&D session, and a set of dice! It’s the perfect way to play a fun game with friends! We recommend you play a bard. Actually everyone should play as a bard and you should be adventurers by day and a traveling band by night!

Play one of the classic RPGs at Modern Myths! New players are always welcome, and there’s a friendly crowd there every week! We recommend playing fast and loose, since it’s a drop-in drop-out game, so worst case you can come back in a few months with your bard’s ‘long-lost uncle who’s also secretly a god’.

Science:

Monday, January 22nd

Union Station [125 Pleasant St, Northampton] at 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Do Be So Sensitive: Stretchy Sensors for Wearable Devices and Soft Robotics

Why do some roboticists think octopi are so cool? How could we build a real Baymax? What are the limitations of skin-worn sensors? Can we fight a villain that wields thousands of nanomachines with the use of these sensors? Kristen Dorsey, Assistant Professor of Engineering at Smith College will tell you what’s up with all of this and more!

The Valley Nerd Watch!

The Women’s March on Northampton is happening Saturday, January 20th! Check it out online and then in person later this week!

We also super duper want to recommend Pyre. It was a great game that made us cry at the end. It’s basically like a sports RPG? Works perfectly in almost every way, and you should be checking it out as soon as possible.

Oh! And in local nerd news we just found out about the Pioneer Valley Coral Research Institute that’s soon to take up residence at Mill Valley Commons in Hadley! That’ll be neat as heck! Coral is amazing and it’s going to be great to know the Valley is doing something to help understand the endangered little magical rock animals.

Oh! And if you’re interested in presenting at Nerd Nite NoHo, just sign up here: https://goo.gl/forms/5IyWsmoRDUUdw63I3! It’s a blast, you get $50 and some drink tokens for your time, and we will be indebted to you forever!

Create a wire form and then cover it with colorful papier mache to make a sculpture! You can sculpt anything you can imagine! Well. You can sculpt a representation of what you imagined that’s likely going to bear a resemblance to your imagining that is commesurate to your skill at wire-sculpting and papier mache. Grades 5-12 welcome! Taught by Whitney Robbins! Pre-Registration required! Call 413-665-2642!

This week the topic is Emily Dickinson’s Instruments of Writing! She wrote in ink and pencil, but how did she view her implements? Humble, decorative, spherical, fiery, malcontent, a glass of water? Did she think of them as writing tools, toys, a small dog and the larger dog that taught it how to open doors? Discuss the subject from a variety of angles with group leader Susan Snively!

Board Games:

Play games with great people at a fun bar! Sometimes the bartender orders pizza for people there, which is great. That’s what happens when you tip well, folks! Start off your new year right with boardgames!

Play boardgames with friends and soon-to-be-friends as well as some of the friendly staff at Modern Myths! It’s a great night to try out something you may have been meaning to check out! This Saturday it’s going to feature some tree-related games! Photosynthesis is really fun!

Books:

Adults who write for children are invited to a critique group! Speak to other people about your work, and trade opportunities for development as well as writing and publishing tips. You can also read and discuss stories with other members! For more info call the library at 413-772-1544!

Card Games:

Draft cards, play magic, win prizes! A $16 entry fee includes tax, and gets you 3 booster packs to draft with, and adds a pack to the prize pool! Everyone gets at least 1 prize pack, and extra packs and foil cards will be awarded for exceptional play!

Comic Books:

Tuesday, January 16th

Jones Library [43 Amity St., Amherst, MA 01002] at 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Graphic Novel Book Club (Ages 11-17)

This week the book club will be reading Dam Keeper by Daisuke Tsutsumi and Robert Kondo! There will be a special illustration craft to go with it! Register ahead of time to guarantee a spot!

Community:

Tour the library! Become acquainted with the many-folded null space that it contains! Escape if you can, fool! Your arrogance led you here, but you must rely on your sadly atrophied wits to escape this shifting dimension of horror!

Computers:

Solve WordPress problems with friends, bring your laptop to help the group get to the bottom of things! Talk about analytics plugins like Jetpack or Google Analytics! Share your experience! You should sign up so you can get WordPress questions answered and be a better computerer. NCTV is located at the rear of Northampton HS. they’ll be in NCTV’s studio room!

Learn about how to use Drupal more effectively! Tips, talks, modules! Meet fellow users and talk about your experiences! Eat pizza! Listen to lightning talks! Help figure out what you need to do at the next meeting!

Entertainment:

Anime is an art form that we have scattered experience with but a lot of people wicked like. The nice part about anime is that you pretty much only need to pick one show and you’ll have 11,000 hours to get through. We once started watching One Piece, saw it had 500 30-minute episodes, and slowly walked into the sea.

Movies:

Watch a funny/sad movie about Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon’s scary courtship during which she fell deathly ill for a long time! Spoiler alert she’s okay now but like that’s not the point of the story it’s more about families and love and all that but anyway we’ve heard great things!

RPGs:

A monthly D&D club for players 8-12! You can become a member of this club by prepaying $50. That gets you help with creating a character, a mini, a custom D&D session, and a set of dice! It’s the perfect way to play a fun game with friends! We recommend you play a bard. Actually everyone should play as a bard and you should be adventurers by day and a traveling band by night!

Play a game where you pretend to be another person! That covers a pretty wide range, so we don’t know exactly what’ll be up here but for some reason most of these games involves swords and dragons at some point. Even if someone tells you you’re going to be playing an RPG about minding a small convenience store, take a few levels in Longswords just in case.

Play one of the classic RPGs at Modern Myths! New players are always welcome, and there’s a friendly crowd there every week! We recommend playing fast and loose, since it’s a drop-in drop-out game, so worst case you can come back in a few months with your bard’s ‘long-lost uncle who’s also secretly a god’.

From the site: “The Lollipops are a team of teen superheroes, who ran off to outer space on a rescue mission. Players take on the role of characters similar to the Teen Titans or the New Mutants who get involved in adventures on an intergalactic scale.We are using FATE rules, which are very simple and allows a lot of player control over the developing story. All materials provided, including pre-generated characters This is a long running game, but new players are encouraged to come join. We are very LGBTQ-friendly.”

The Valley Nerd Watch!

Welcome to the New Year!

This year why don’t you make a commitment to coming to the most excellent night of every month, Nerd Nite NoHo? The one this Monday should be a good time, because we have it on good authority that for completely good reasons that definitely have nothing to do with a scheduling mixup on the part of one of the organizers, one of the organizers is going to speak! And it’ll be a fun talk!

So come to the World War 2 Club and learn about how Common Good’s community currency works from William Spademan, and how arachnophobia and videogames interact from James Olchowski!

Also on a totally different note, you should take a look at Pyre if you like videogames. Just an all-around wonderful piece of work.

THIS WEEK

Science:

Monday, January 8th

World War 2 Club [50 Conz St., Northampton, MA] at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Nerd Nite NoHo: Common Good and Arachnophobia Meets Videogames!

This Nerd Nite NoHo did something really special: screwed up the timing for one of the speakers and wound up having to have a host give a presentation. Luckily the host is pretty charming and wonderful and smart and had a presentation that he’d been waiting to give for a while so it’s no big. See William Spademan talk about how the Common Good community currency works, and learn from Nerd Nite host James Olchowski about what a phobia is, why arachnophobics have a tough time with videogames, and what can be done about it! It’ll be a fun time and we promise there will be minimal actual spider pictures and plenty of warning beforehand.

Art:

Local writer and veteran Eric Wasileski will lead a writing workshop! Military veterans and their families are very welcome, though the event is also open to the public. Warriror Writers works to build a community that allows for artistic expression and helps people witness the full range of military experiences.

Teens! Come hang out in the Teen Room, your designated room, to create! Write, draw, make jewelry, design things in 3D, play with their technology! Use the library’s resources to make your dreams… reality.

A hands-on workshop inspired by Monet! You don’t need any experience and all materials are provided to you, so just sit back and relax as Gregory Maichack teaches you what you need to know to make excellent pastel paintings. It’s free, but space is limited so be sure to register at 413-283-3330!

Nontraditional Quilts by Susan Boss! Wood Sculptures by Michael Tillyer! Robots and Paintings by Mark Brown! All this and exactly and only this at the artists’ reception! Why would we give you more? You can’t handle more and frankly it’s a bit presumptuous that you asked for it!

Meet in the Teen Room to walk as a group to the Radioplasma Recording Studio to get some hands on experience with journalism, storytelling, and sound mixing! SOUNDS cool! Get it? See that? Nice.

Board Games:

Friday, January 12th

Burger King Community Room [344 King St., Northampton, MA 01060] at 6:30 PM to 10:00 PM

Tabletop Game Night

Meet up and play some excellent board games! A friendly group of folks who like to play mostly Euro games but are open to whatever it is that you think would be fun. We’ve had a good time playing Photosynthesis and Clank! recently, if you’re looking for suggestions!

Play boardgames with friends and soon-to-be-friends as well as some of the friendly staff at Modern Myths! It’s a great night to try out something you may have been meaning to check out! We really recommend Clank! or Not Alone if they’ve got those!

Card Games:

Draft cards, play magic, win prizes! A $16 entry fee includes tax, and gets you 3 booster packs to draft with, and adds a pack to the prize pool! Everyone gets at least 1 prize pack, and extra packs and foil cards will be awarded for exceptional play!

The second set in the Ixalan block from Magic the Gathering! This is your chance to play with the latest cards! It’s a limited sealed deck tournament. Everyone starts with the same number of cards to build the best 40-card deck they can. Play for promo cards and packs! $30 in advance, $35 at the door!

Comic Books:

A monthly meetup to discuss and share your favorite comics! You’ll also get a chance to create one of your own with provided artist supplies! Intended for elementary, tween, and teen readers and artists!

Community:

A video screening of a collection of short videos of the host of the Daily Show! The focus will be on race in the US, and after you finish laughing at the jokes, you’ll talk about what you can learn and how you can help dismantle racism. Free and open to the public!

Computers:

This week, you’ll be talking about prototyping and Agile projects! They’re going to be showing off products like Sketch and Envision, as well as techniques for paper prototyping. Share your Agile prototyping victories and frustrations!

Entertainment:

From the site: “David Hernández is a leading expert in the study of U.S. immigration policy and enforcement. He has published widely on the topic and is currently working on a book, “Undue Process: Immigrant Detention and Lesser Citizenship,” which examines the intersections of immigration, detention, race, and imprisonment in the United States. ” See him explain the varied horrors of our immigration and justice systems!

Movies:

Teens! Watch the most recent and probably one of the best Spider-Man films! It’s quite fun, and there are a lot of times when the titular Spider-Man says a funny thing and then bops someone on the noggin. That’s quality Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Manning!

If you want to see this widely regarded as very neat movie with some nice folks, you should meet up with the Western MA Sci-Fi Meetup at 6:30pm in the lobby, and then try to sit together at the flick and maybe grab food afterward. What a delight!

“The entire country watched as Anita Hill, an African-American law professor, sat before a 1991 Senate committee of 14 white men and with a clear, unwavering voice recounted the repeated acts of sexual harassment she had endured while working with U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas…” Sponsored by the Northampton Committee to Stop the Wars!

Alice’s Ordinary People: Film Screening and Lecture with Professor John H. Bracey, Jr.

A new documentary about Alice Tregay will be screened, followed by Professor John H. Bracey, Jr. giving a lecture about the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. Alice Tregay was a woman who spent her life standing against injustice and bringing others together to change things for the better across a long career. Learn more about an important person, and the Civil Rights Movement in general!

RPGs:

A monthly D&D club for players 8-12! You can become a member of this club by prepaying $50. That gets you help with creating a character, a mini, a custom D&D session, and a set of dice! It’s the perfect way to play a fun game with friends! We recommend you play a bard. Actually everyone should play as a bard and you should be adventurers by day and a traveling band by night!

Play one of the classic RPGs at Modern Myths! New players are always welcome, and there’s a friendly crowd there every week! We recommend playing fast and loose, since it’s a drop-in drop-out game, so worst case you can come back in a few months with your bard’s ‘long-lost uncle who’s also secretly a god’.

The Valley Nerd Watch!

As always we have our special end of the year event: being kind of tired and probably having a cold so this is really short. Thankfully there aren’t a ton of events this week either!

Oh! And come check out Nerd Nite NoHo on January 8th, at the World War 2 Club, 7:00pm – 9:00pm! It’s going to be wonderful and the weather will hopefully not be wildly cold.

Oh! And also we got to DM some D&D over the weekend of Christmas and it was a great time. We don’t get to do that enough! It’s always really fun to be able to use the scaffolding of a situation/ruleset to have fun describing how your pals have managed to stab their own foot trying to kill a giant rat.

Happy New Year again! Resolve to make improvements that are achievable and have steps to them so you can always feel like you’re making progress if you’re going to resolve anything!

Board Games:

Play boardgames with friends and soon-to-be-friends as well as some of the friendly staff at Modern Myths! It’s a great night to try out something you may have been meaning to check out! We really recommend Istanbul or Photosynthesis if they’ve got those. Chill, entertaining games of friendly competition.

Card Games:

Learn to play Magic in a casual setting with the friendly staff of Modern Myths! Test out a cool new deck, play with constructed decks if other folks are into it, get special door prizes! It’s the perfect night for new Magic players or people who just want to take it easy! It’s $5 to attend, which is immediately converted to store credit.

Computers:

Tuesday, January 2nd

The Foundry [24 Main St., Northampton, MA] at 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Northampton Webdive – After Work

A rendezvous of the most fantastic sort! It’s a chance to hang out with web developers and coders and just folks in general, talk about web dev stuff and just hang at a nice local bar!

Lasers! Too dangerous for our children? Nonsense, we say! Light up the night and carve the library into neat cauterized cubes with what we can only assume are high-powered laser beams. Don’t know what the “tag” part is implying. Suitable for ages 11-17, registration required! Use the Garden entrance after 5pm.

Movies:

Pizza and a movie: the ultimate chance to have pizza and also watch a movie. Teens, don’t let this slip by! This is your chance to have pizza and watch a film! It’s a hoot to do so with pals! Free and intended for ages 12 – 17!

RPGs:

A monthly D&D club for players 8-12! You can become a member of this club by prepaying $50. That gets you help with creating a character, a mini, a custom D&D session, and a set of dice! It’s the perfect way to play a fun game with friends! We recommend you play a bard. Actually everyone should play as a bard and you should be adventurers by day and a traveling band by night!

RPGs are great! Play Noirlandia, or Questlandia, or Dread, or Monsterhearts, or Apocalypse World, or Dogs in the Vineyard, or One Thousand and One Nights, or any of a lot of amazing games created right here in this Valley! They’re all very good!

Play one of the classic RPGs at Modern Myths! New players are always welcome, and there’s a friendly crowd there every week! We recommend playing fast and loose, since it’s a drop-in drop-out game, so worst case you can come back in a few months with your bard’s ‘long-lost uncle who’s also secretly a god’.